How to set default nice level for an application

[Nils Kassube]

Matthias Andersson wrote:
> I want to make thunderbird always start with a nice level of 20
> instead of the default 0. What is the easiest way of achieving this?

The nice level range doesn't include 20 (see "man nice"). Do you mean 
-20 (highest priority) or 19 (lowest priority)? If you mean -20, I have 
no idea because only root can raise the priority and I would never 
suggest to run thunderbird as root. But if you mean 19, I would suggest 
you create a starter for thunderbird on your desktop which starts the 
command

/usr/bin/nice -19 /usr/bin/thunderbird

and maybe you should also consider using ionice (see "man ionice") which 
would make the command:

/usr/bin/nice -19 /usr/bin/ionice -c3 /usr/bin/thunderbird


Nils